Every oak
flooring installation needs substantial investment in materials, time and
effort but when done
correctly, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t last for the full lifetime of
that home.
Sadly, not everyone cares enough (or possibly knows enough), so
this is not always the case.
Annual global losses that are associated with wood floor failures and problems has been estimated at over $1billion, which emphasises the fact that when an oak floor does have problems, it can cost a lot of money and effort to put right.
In fact, the
overall costs of a single floor failure have the potential to bankrupt an
installer or even a small supplier, so you would think that every installer
would do everything possible to avoid potential issues after installation. The
plain fact is that not all do.
If you’re experiencing problems yourself, your own personal experiences will depend on your own situation; maybe you’ve just bought a new home with flooring that’s in a bad condition or possibly you’re an installer yourself who is experiencing problems on site… or maybe you’re in the worst case scenario where you’ve cut some corners on your installation in an effort to save money and now that's back-fired on you (as it usually does).
Let's try to
cover a few of the most common challenges that are experienced during or after
a new floor installation, so here goes…
Changes in Moisture Content
As explained
previously within this blog and all over our website, any natural wood product
will shrink or swell when forced to lose or absorb moisture.Even though this is probably the most common reason for floor failure that we know of, in most situations it could actually have been totally avoided if the owner/installer had correctly used a moisture meter to assess the product and the site, acclimatised the flooring sufficiently (or avoided installing at all in situations where moisture is an ongoing site issue), and then maintained those conditions thereafter.
Every single
oak floor board in every single oak floor wants to constantly lose or take on
moisture in an effort to reach equilibrium with its surrounding conditions and
environment, if those conditions are not kept constant. As we should all know
by now (we’ve gone on about it often enough) oak flooring shrinks or expands
when subjected to varying levels of moisture.
If you
install oak flooring in conditions that are drier than the boards themselves,
you’ll soon have gaps between every plank when the flooring loses moisture to
meet the level of its surroundings, and if you install it into areas that are
more damp or moist than the flooring, your floor will expand and may buckle or
even push concrete walls outwards, causing structural damage.
Using a Moisture Meter
No natural oak floor
should be installed before the moisture levels of the flooring itself and the
surrounding walls and subfloor are determined and proven as being at the
correct and suitable levels.
Likewise, the
Relative Humidity of the areas where installation will take place should also
be measured and recorded to prove suitability.
By using a
moisture meter you can assess the moisture content of everything that may have
an effect on the installation, before during and after installation, and this is vital to avoid problems afterwards.
According to
most experienced installers, the best moisture meter to use is a resistance
meter, which measures how well a piece of timber conducts or resists
electricity.
Wood is not a
good conductor, whereas water within wood is, so by measuring the amount of
conductivity within any piece of timber, it’s possible to accurately determine
its moisture content.When the space within the cells of the timber dry out completely to the stage where no moisture is present, this is called the Fibre Saturation Point (FSP) and that piece of timber will start to shrink.
The FSP of wood is usually between 25-30% moisture content, so allowing the humidity to drop too low within your home is a sure way of forcing your floor boards to reach their FSP and start to shrink, especially during cold winter periods when the air is very dry and we turn our heating up to compensate.
Imperfections within the finished
floor surface
Some people’s
expectations of an installed natural oak floor are unrealistic to say the least. They
expect the finished floor to resemble that of a fine piece of furniture but in
reality there will be some imperfections or ‘natural defects’ in any wood
floor, no matter what the grade is.To avoid any pieces of flooring that are considered as being unsuitable from being included within the finished floor, the home owner should be present during the installation process to self-grade as installation progresses.
Because personal preferences vary massively, it’s not fair for anyone to expect their floor installer to know precisely what natural variances they will and will not want within their finished floor but you would be amazed how many people complain about "just one board in the middle of the floor..." that "just isn't as I want my floor to look".
Most cases of
dissatisfaction can be avoided if the installer explains everything he or she
can about the site conditions and how the flooring will be affected by them,
whilst also covering every possible scenario regarding potential floor
appearance when finished.
If the home owner isn’t happy with what the installer
is telling them, then that’s a case that needs to be sorted out and agreed upon
before installation commences… otherwise there will no doubt be problems
afterwards.
Something for
everyone to remember regarding floor finish is that the National Wood Flooring
Association standards state that imperfections that only show up in a certain
light or direction do not count as a defect because they are being magnified. This means that there is a measure of 'reality' with what's allowed and what's not.
If everyone
also remembered that we are dealing with a natural product here, then expectations
of finished appearance would be much more realistic. As we’ve said many times before,
it seems that some people love the 'idea' of owning a natural floor but they don’t want it to
appear or behave as a natural floor will???
Having said
all that, there obviously will be some cases where the end user or home owner
will be completely justified when unhappy with the finished appearance but the
reasons must be determined before any accusations are made with regards blame.
Buckling, Crowning, Cupping, or Delaminating of the floor boards
Yes, this can be down to the quality of the flooring that’s purchased but in 100% of the cases we’ve experienced the reason has been down to variances in moisture and humidity within the areas the flooring has been installed, or the failure to determine the site conditions as being suitable before installation begins.
Most situations that we have been involved with have been where the home owner is claiming that the engineered oak flooring they’ve bought is delaminating because of poor quality, but on inspection the reason has been down to very low humidity levels forcing the oak wear layer to lose moisture and curl upwards in an effort to find more. This is certainly not a product fault, and all down to the failure to maintain the surrounding conditions that the flooring is ‘living’ within.
We cannot speak for every supplier but we pride ourselves on the quality of our products and also emphasise these potential issues before purchase (just read through our website and you’ll see all the information available on how to avoid any such challenges).
It’s human
nature to look for a ‘better deal’ when purchasing an expensive product like
oak flooring but some forget that achieving a 'better deal' is certainly not all
down to price, especially when you’re expecting your new oak floor to perform
and last for many years to come.
Make sure you
compare everything about the products and suppliers you’re considering, and
always buy the product that you feel best fits with your situation and the one
that meets the required demands of that situation.
Obviously budget
is an important consideration but as with most purchases, just buying the ‘cheapest’
product doesn't necessarily mean that it’s the best deal available.
Our opinion is that if
your budget doesn’t meet your requirements, it’s false economy and a total waste
of what money you have to buy something that’s not going to do what you want it
to, and will probably need replacing within a couple of years (if not less).
Solutions to ALL the potential
problems mentioned above
The only sure
way to avoid costly and time consuming challenges with your installed floor is
to do everything as follows;- Firstly the buyer should be fully aware of the natural qualities and features of the product they’re buying, along with what’s allowed within the grades included
- Make sure the property is sealed and dry before any flooring is even delivered
- Prove with moisture checks that the flooring and site are both suitable for installation to begin (the acclimatisation process
- Prove with humidity checks that the conditions are suitable (the acclimatisation process)
- Prove and determine that the subfloor is suitable to accept a wood floor, and the installation method being used
- Fitter and home owner to be in complete agreement on all potential issues before installation
- Fitter and home owner to be completely aware of what features are allowed and not within the finished floor
- Surrounding conditions must be maintained after installation and kept within the guidelines recommended by the supplier
- The finished floor should be maintained and re-finished as and when required to
avoid any part of the floor becoming ‘bare’ wood
